https://padlet.com/dylanmcbryde/kkl6e4o7zh7h by Dylan McBryde en-us 2018-05-04 01:05:21 UTC 2025-09-26 01:47:10 UTC hello@padlet.com dylanmcbryde https://padlet.com/dylanmcbryde/kkl6e4o7zh7h/wish/257882451 I think that "Every Song Ever" is a great introduction for beginners to the vocabulary of music. Although there were a few too many chapters that dove further into philosophy and personal anecdotes, overall Ben Ratliff helped me build a language to explain the music that I liked. Now I know how to name and identify many musical concepts and ideas that I previously couldn't.]]> 2018-05-04 01:06:04 UTC https://padlet.com/dylanmcbryde/kkl6e4o7zh7h/wish/257882451 dylanmcbryde https://padlet.com/dylanmcbryde/kkl6e4o7zh7h/wish/257882479 My favorite aspects had to do with the technical explanations Ratliff gave for the musical elements. I felt that I learned the most about a musical element when there was a specific timestamp for a specific song, and I knew exactly what to look for. This greatly helped my understanding of the musical elements and drove this musical language deeper into my noggin. ]]> 2018-05-04 01:06:15 UTC https://padlet.com/dylanmcbryde/kkl6e4o7zh7h/wish/257882479 dylanmcbryde https://padlet.com/dylanmcbryde/kkl6e4o7zh7h/wish/257882496 Many times throughout the book, I found myself trying to keep up with philosophical ideas or stories about Ratliff's past musical listening experiences. It wasn't so much problematic, as it was just not very helpful to my understanding of the elements. There were also a few musical elements that were much harder to identify and measure in music, such as "Endless Inventory," "Wasteful Authority," and "Transmission." I found that I learned the most about musical appreciation and musical language through more technical chapters like "Repetition," "Quiet/Silence/Intimacy," and "Density." Now, this doesn't mean that all of the more "philosophical" chapters were unhelpful or unrelatable to me, or that I only learned about music from the more "technical" chapters. I thought that chapters like "Sadness," "Linking," and "The Perfect Moment" were all easily understandable and helpful in learning to appreciate music. Although this was a really engaging and enlightening book overall, I think that Ratliff sometimes went a little overboard with the more flowery language and poetic anecdotes about artists, etc.]]> 2018-05-04 01:06:26 UTC https://padlet.com/dylanmcbryde/kkl6e4o7zh7h/wish/257882496 dylanmcbryde https://padlet.com/dylanmcbryde/kkl6e4o7zh7h/wish/257882525 This has definitely changed the way that I listen to my favorite artists. When I listened to music before I read the book, I could "feel" many of the ideas that Ratliff talks about, but I could never identify them clearly. When an artist would slow down a song, or make it quiet, or gave a particularly powerful performance, I recognized it, but I couldn't verbalize or write about it with a musical language. Now, I feel more confident and better equipped to analyze music critically. I have a better understanding of the intentions behind my favorite songs, and I have a language to share my findings with friends, professors, etc. Developing a language to communicate these ideas has been very helpful in my journey to appreciate music old and new.]]> 2018-05-04 01:06:38 UTC https://padlet.com/dylanmcbryde/kkl6e4o7zh7h/wish/257882525